Kathmandu, January 24:

Police today used water cannons and tear gas shells and baton-charged demonstrators of the seven-party alliance in a bid to bar them from crossing the New Road gate.

The cops, deployed in the area, resorted to lathi-charge and used tear gas shells soon after the demonstrators moved towards the gate. Over a dozen protestors, including CPN-UML standing committee member Yuwaraj Gyawali, were rounded up from New Road, while a few demonstrators sustained minor injuries in the scuffle.

The chief of the central foreign department of the All Nepal National Free Students’ Union

(ANNFSU), Rajan Rai, was seriously injured in the lathi-charge.

A statement issued here by the ANNFSU said Rai was immediately rushed to the hospital.

Demonstrators shouting pro-republican slogans burnt tyres and pelted stones at the police. A

television camera belonging to a Channel Nepal cameraman was destroyed by the water aimed at the protestors.

The supporters of the seven-party alliance took out rallies from different gullys of New Road at 2 pm waving their respective party flags and shouting solgans for the restoration of “full democracy” and people’s rights.

The demonstration that lasted for nearly two hours brought traffic to a standstill in the area compelling most of the shops to pull down shutters, while a few shops remained half-shut.

Pedestrians and onlookers, who were trapped in between the protestors and the police, faced a tough time with some policemen requesting and even threatening them to take leave the area.

Interestingly, onlookers were commenting on and surprised at the presence of journalists and human rights observors at the site of the clash who had gathered there in large numbers.

Former presidents of Nepal Students’ Union (NSU), Dhanraj Gurung and Bishwo Prakash Sharma, as well as former general secretary of the NSU, Basu Koirala, were detained from the rally. NSU leaders Mahesh Khatiwada, LB Karki, Bipin Adhikari, Ramkrishna Lamichhane, Dhruba Bhatta, Prem Dhoja Lama were severely beaten up by the police, a press

statement issued by the NSU said.